Grace nodded to me as I turned into a large bear. I took up the remaining space in the room and sat down with my back to the doorway, hoping my girth and scent would keep the wolves away for the night; otherwise, I wasn’t sure her miraculous change would be worth it if she didn’t make it through the night.
23rd March
I kept guard as Grace finally dozed off to sleep. It sounded like the animals had moved their arguments elsewhere, and I was able to get some sleep also. I was pretty sure if a wolf tried to enter, I was big enough to block their way. Perks of being a large bear.
When morning came, I still wasn’t sure if it was safe for us to leave. Grace huddled in her blankets and watched me with big eyes, still not saying anything. I was slightly worried she was in shock from last night.
“Grace,” I spoke quietly and slowly. “I’m going to transform into a mouse and go take a peek. If it’s safe, we have to go find Nikkan. He took on a pack of wolves to keep you safe. Don’t let anyone or anything in. I’ll be able to go out and in without needing to open the door.”
She nodded.
My magic swirled around me as I shrank down into a mouse. It felt the same as the night before when I was made human without trying. While Grace couldn’t shift, I was still able to do it. I didn’t understand it, but it was my magic.
In my now much smaller form, I found a crack in the doorway and took off. The house was completely silent. I could hear Grace breathing as it was the only sound. As I neared the open front door, I kept to the shadows. This was the tricky part. I wanted to see what was going on, but I didn’t want to be seen as a snack for anything that was out there. Pausing to take a deep breath, I moved forward, still in the shadows, but far enough out into the doorway to look around.
The world was much different in my much smaller form. Everything was huge and looked distorted. My mouse senses told me that the world was fine, even if mixing my mouse impressions of my surroundings with my human brain was getting everything all tangled together. I know what objects I was looking at, but with their new size, my brain didn’t want to accept it. I guess I needed to stick with larger animals until I was more used to it.
I looked around the empty street. Red painted walls and the ground. I could see a few humans lying naked and not moving. They had likely been a wolf when they died, just like I thought Grace had. I sat very still and listened to everything around the house. There was nothing to be afraid of. It seemed like the wolves had all fought it out the previous night and were either dead or resting now.
Grace was waiting for me when I entered. She was fully dressed when I appeared in front of her.
“We need to find Nikkan now,” I told her as I grew to my full human size and was tossing the blockade from the doorway. “It doesn’t look good out there.”
I looked Grace over.
“Can you shift now?”
She shook her head. What in the world was going on? Could being in a near-death experience change a shifter? Would it come back?
“Okay. Let’s move this stuff and get out of here.”
Grace joined me and moved the last few pieces blocking the doorway as I looked around the room. I dug through a few of the boxes we had moved and looked in a chest. There was a large dagger, or it could have been a small sword. I took it as I grabbed Grace’s hand. I’d have to return it later, but for now, we needed a way to stay safe in human form.
“Stay behind me,” I told her as I pulled her through the house.
I kept alert as we crept through the house. My mouse senses said there was nothing, but my brain was having a hard time believing that. There were wolves all over the place the night before. We couldn’t be alone now. And with the children in the woods, I sure hoped the wolves hadn’t taken off during the night. I knew the kids would stay safe where they were, but they’d be terrified.
The wolf village was too quiet and covered with fine white dust. Since the curse had come back,, the village was always filled with, at least, moaning. Right now, the place was silent, and that didn’t sit right with me.
I had thought the white sparkle from the dust was just my mouse eyes, but I could see it was fine snow. The unexpected spring snow shower didn’t hide the carnage of the night, but it made me feel like the world was starting over. I stayed on alert but had hope.
Grace stayed behind me as we made our way back through the village. I wasn’t sure where to find Nikkan, but I was going to the last place I saw him and would go from there. We didn’t make it all the way there when Grace called out, and I spotted the blond wolf lying on the ground. It looked like he was still a wolf. I wasn’t sure why Grace wasn’t. Just one more mystery to figure out.
Wolf Nikkan tried to push himself up on his paws but fell back to the ground. He didn’t have the energy to do it.
“Save your energy, friend,” I told him as I scooped him into my arms.
Nikkan gave me one whine but accepted my help. Had he been human, he would have punched me, but as a wolf, all he could do was bite, and I knew my friend wouldn’t bite me in case he turned me into a werewolf. I was more than certain he was too injured to protest further.
“Let’s get him back to the camp and the children,” I told Grace. She nodded as her eyes filled with tears while looking at Nikkan.
I began to walk back out of the village when we heard some noises in the south. I changed my course. When I was as close as I would get with my injured friend, I sat him on the ground.
“Watch over him, and I’ll be right back.”
I handed Grace my small sword, and she held it with both hands. She might not be trained like I was, but I knew she’d defend him with her life if needed.
The trees were dense and let me creep further near the conversation I heard. There were men yelling at each other, which was a good sign. If it had been wolves snarling, I would have left, but men I had to see. And one voice was familiar.
When I finally could see, I didn’t hesitate to step out of the brush.
Micco was standing and facing three large men that were all yelling at him. I approached the group from behind Micco.
“We got lucky last night,” one was yelling.
“We can’t count on something like that happening again,” another added.
“If we hadn’t all been knocked out, who knows what would have happened,” the first continued.
“Enough,” Micco growled, his wolf seeping into his human voice. “While last night was hard, it will get better. We all know this. The curse was the hardest during the first winter season when it happened long ago. We just need to weather this out.” Micco stopped talking when he heard me approach. He turned to me.
“How in the world did you get in here?” he asked.
I smiled and hugged the man that was like a grandfather to me. I was happy he survived. I didn’t know where he was in the fighting, but it seemed he was no worse for the wear.
“We have a bit to catch up on,” I replied as Micco hugged me back. “I’m just glad to see you alive.”
Micco gave me his hearty laugh as he pulled back.
“You think a curse can beat me? Ha.” The old man was as tough as you could get. Though he did look like he’d seen better days.
“What happened last night?” I asked about the argument I had walked in on.
Micco scratched his head.
“We have no idea. One moment we were all running around fighting, and the next moment we woke up, and it was morning time. Once people started to change back, no one could explain what happened. It was like something knocked us all out cold. Some people woke human.”
Maybe the bodies we saw weren’t dead, after all.
A thump landed at our feet, and I took up a defensive stance in front of Micco. He reached down at the package at our feet and undid the twine on it. Opening it up, he found it filled with white bandages. Another thump landed, and I could see where it was coming from, the wall. I left Micco and the wolves behind as I made it to the wall.
&nb
sp; I stopped in shock.
Behind the foggy wall were hundreds of people. In front, Sera stood next to Mal, who had her hands on the wall. She was chanting as more people tossed packages through the wall.
Mal nodded to Sera, and Sera walked over to the wall. She held out a hand to touch the wall, but it didn’t stop her. She pushed through and ran over to me, jumping into my still shocked arms. She just went through the wall. Was it still there? I didn’t have time to process it as Sera pulled my face to hers so that she could kiss me. Sera pulled back and grinned at me.
“What’s going on?” I asked as Mal walked through the wall also. I could still see the foggy wall. Behind her, tree people followed with bags and some pulling carts.
“I asked Mal to change the wall and allow humans but not werewolves to walk through. It will still keep Elder safe from the wolves, but we can come through. This way, we can help during the day and get supplies to everyone,” Sera explained. “If we take care of the wolves, you can search for the cure.”
I looked behind her. The normally scared tree people were walking out toward the village with their packages, stopping at any wolf they found. Many bent down to help injured wolves stand; others just dug through their bags to hand the wolves food or drinks.
“We’ve brought food, clothing, and medicine,” Sera said over my head to Micco behind me. “And I brought builders to the other side where you have the children. We need to get over there and let them start working. It will probably take them at least four days to get a small structure up in the tree, but they’ve vowed to come back every week until there is a place for the wolf children to stay safe. They are safe now. The tree people want to help, and I thought this was the best way. You can count on us to keep everyone safe.”
I didn’t care who was watching. I leaned down to Sera in my arms and kissed her again. Tree people cheered at us as they passed, but I blocked them out. I had no idea how she did it, but Sera brought the two sides together for me.
When we finally broke apart, I took her hand in mine and walked over to the old healer.
“How is this possible? I thought the wall had to keep both wolves and humans apart.”
Mal shrugged. “That was all I could do. I didn’t have the ability to see the difference between a human and a wolf-human.”
“But you see it now?”
Mal grinned. “I didn’t make this possible. You did.”
How was that possible? My magic wasn’t the kind that made walls like Mal. All I could do was transform. The wall didn’t let me through as a human, and I didn’t try to change that. I always went through the wall like an animal. We had tried to walk me through it like a man, and it didn’t work. What was she talking about?
“Last night, you used your magic to change Elder. Sera already had the tree people and me here to help, but this wall was all you. You can see the small difference between the humans and the wolf humans, and that was what was needed to make the wall this way. I’m glad you finally accepted your magic, Castiel. Your mother will be proud.”
I hadn’t noticed that the people came without Red. Sera squeezed my hand.
“She had some visitors and told me she couldn’t leave.”
Visitors? Who was coming into Elder when we had a problem with the wolves? Most people would run the other direction. While we tried to keep things to ourselves, there were sure to be reports going around the kingdoms about the wolves.
“Let’s go get those builders in and going on the houses,” Sera suggested, not elaborating further.
We said our goodbyes, and Mal was gone in her poof of smoke.
“We better go get Nikkan and Grace.”
I led Sera into the woods, where I left my friends. Sera took one look at Nikkan and scooped him into her arms. He didn’t protest this time as she marched back near the wall.
“Miller,” she yelled at a passing man. “See that he is fixed up and don’t let him shift until he heals.”
“What is wrong?” Grace whispered, staring in shock at the people pouring through the wall.
“He’s injured more than it seems. I could feel at least half a dozen ribs are broken, and there are some deep gashes under him that need stitches.”
Sera set Nikkan down on the clean shirt the man just put on the ground. I could see the blood blossoming beneath my friend.
“Will he be okay?” Grace asked.
Sera stood up as Miller began examining Nikkan. She pulled Grace into a hug.
“He will be. I promise.”
Grace let out a sob that she seemed to have been holding in probably all night. I decided to walk over to Nikkan and let the girls have a moment.
As I turned to leave, I heard Grace gasp behind me, and I turned around.
“Did I do that?” she asked, pointing to me.
I looked down at my chest. There were scratches and bite marks, but they were already scabbed over and healing. It seemed the wolf-accelerated healing was very accelerated in me. I shrugged.
“Not your front, your back,” Sera explained as Grace began to sob more. “You’re a bit scratched up.”
I tried to look over my shoulder, but I didn’t see anything. Instead, I rotated my arms, and I felt some blood trickle.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I told Grace honestly. “And I’m pretty sure I gave back as much as you did.” I pointed to her arm that I had to bite more than once to keep her from running away or biting me.
She looked at her wrist and nodded. It wasn’t much, but she did feel a bit better.
“You and Nikkan stay here and get better,” Sera told Grace, and Grace nodded before she dropped down beside my best friend. “And we can go check on the children.”
Sera reached for my hand and pulled me into a run toward the children’s camp.
I smiled at her next to me before increasing my speed to be in front of her. I would never get sick of running through the woods of Elder. While it was still quiet in the wolf area, it felt like home. The trees had little leaves growing, and the air was fresh once you got away from the village: the wind, the smells, the crisp spring air. I was as home as I ever would be.
Before we made it to the children and our camp, I halted in my tracks and threw out my arms to catch Sera. She laughed as I picked her up and twirled her.
“They really are going to be fine, aren’t they?” I asked what I already knew. “Thanks to you.”
Sera grinned. “I didn’t do a thing except lead them through the woods at nighttime. This was all you and Red. She made them believe, and you gave them a way to help. The two of you are truly the leaders of Elder.”
I gave her a quick peck on the forehead.
“I would have given up if it weren’t for you. Thank you.”
Sera grinned at me.
“You wouldn’t have, Castiel, because giving up isn’t part of you. Never has been or ever will be.”
24th March
It was hard to leave my friends, but I knew they would be fine and I needed to find out where I came from, who I was. I’d been thinking about visiting Prince Fallon of Aboria for a while and now seemed the best time to do it. The children were safe, and the wolf tree home was growing with the help of the tree village builders. I didn’t have the cure to the curse, but the wolves were going to be fine. My friends were going to be fine. Red and Sera had seen to it. Elder had seen to it. I was truly inspired.
Grace was completely human. She could pass through the barrier where Nikkan couldn’t. I have no idea why she was changed, and no one else was. I wasn’t sure if it was me that did it, but she was now free of being a wolf. Nikkan insisted she move to be with Red in the tree village, but Grace had other plans. She was staying with the children in the treehouse. She was going to take care of them when their parents couldn’t.
Micco was now very busy but in a much happier way than before. He had a village to run, and it was no longer on the verge of dying. The wolves had hope again, thanks to the tree villagers, who finally understood what being pa
rt of Elder meant. Life would go on now, and people didn’t have to hide in fear on either side of the wall.
I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now, but the visitors in Azren were waiting for me. The easiest way to travel would have been to transform into a bird, but Sera was with me, so we decided to race home, for old times sake of course. I might have let her beat me, just this once.
Sera told me to meet her in Red’s office, but I was stuck outside the door. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know who the visitors were or why they were here. I had enough to deal with as it was. I didn’t need anything more. I turned away from Red’s office door and found my favorite branch. I climbed up into the tree that gave me the best view of the village and Red’s office at the same time. I wasn’t sure how much alone time they’d let me have before Red came looking.
I was happy for my wolf friends; I really was. But something was keeping me from being completely happy. Maybe it was the fact that the magic of Elder refused to name me as Red’s son, or maybe it was that helping the wolves didn’t make me part of them. I was still different.
As a child, I thought if I could change into an animal, I would fit in. Now I could, but I still didn’t fit in. I knew I needed to find a cure; that was my priority, but when I came back, what would that mean. I still was stuck not being either a tree person or a wolf. And what did the magic inside me mean? It allowed me to transform, which was the best feeling in the world, but I had no idea where or why I had it.
Things had been simpler before the curse. In one moon cycle, my whole life had changed. I worried that if I went away, it would all change again, and I wouldn’t be able ever to come home. No matter how I felt about the people, the woods of Elder were my home.
I sat in the trees and listened to the people that walked by below. I loved the tree that Red’s office was built with. It was a mighty oak tree that stretched up above most of the other trees. It was strong and resilient, just like my mother. What would she be like when I returned?
God of Shifters Page 7
